Battle of the monkey and the crab

BATTLE

monkey and a
crab once met
when going
round a
mountain*

The monkey had picked up a
persimmon-seed, and the crab had
a piece of toasted rice-cake. The
monkey seeing this, and wishing
to get something that could be
turned to good account at once,
said: <4Pray, exchange that rice-
cake for this persimmon-seed,"
The crab, without a word, gave
up his cake, and took the per-
simmon-seed and planted it. At

once it sprung up, and soon be.
came a tree so high one had to
look up at it. The tree was full
of persimmons but the crab had
no means of climbing the tree.
So he asked the monkey to climb
up and get the persimmons for him.
The monkey got up on a limb
of the tree and began to eat the
persimmons. The unripe persim-
mons he threw at the crab, but

all the ripe and good ones he
put in his pouch. The crab under
the tree thus got his shell badly
bruised and only by good luck
escaped into his hole, where he
lay distressed with pain and not
able to get up. Now when the
relatives and household of the
crab heard how matters stood they
were surprised and angry, and
declared war and attacked the

monkey, who leading forth a nu-
merous following bid defiance to
the other party. The crabs, find-
ing themselves unable to meet and

cope with this force, became still more ex-
asperated and enraged, and retreated into
their hole, and held a council of war.

Then came a rice-mortar, a pounder,
a bee, and an egg, and together they
devised a deep-laid plot to be avenged

First, they requested that peace
be made with the crabs; and thus
they induced the king of the mon-
keys to enter their hole unattend*
ed, and seated him on the hearth.
The monkey not suspecting any

took the htbashij or poker, to
stir up the slumbering fire, when
bang! went the egg, which was
lying hidden in the ashes, and
burned the monkey's arm. Sur-
prised and alarmed he plunged

his arm into the pickle-tub in the
kitchen to relieve the pain of the
burn. Then the bee which was
hidden near the tub stung him

sharply
already

in his face
wet with

tears.
Without
waiting to brush

off the bee and howling bitterly,
he rushed for the back door:
but just then some sea-weed en-
tangled his legs and made him
slip. Then, down came the pound-
er tumbling on him from a shelf,
and the mortar too came rolling
down on him from the roof of
the porch, and broke his back
and so weakened him that he
was unable to rise up. Then

came the crabs in a crowd

and brandishing on high their
pinchers they pinched the monkey

to pieces.

.-J by i^c Xobunstttt in Tokgo,